A Synthesis of Research on Nutrition Education at the Elementary School Level

This literature review emphasizes the importance of teacher training, teaching strategies, parental involvement, curricular concerns, administrative support, and social/cultural factors on the impact of nutrition education programs at the elementary school level. The characteristics, implementation, and effectiveness of selected elementary nutrition education programs are reviewed, and instructional methods and materials shown effective through research are identified and discussed.     

Hypersensitivity reactions.

All cancer chemotherapeutic agents, except altretamine, the nitrosoureas, and dactinomycin, have produced at least an isolated instance of a HSR. Certain drugs, such as L-asparaginase and mitomycin (administered intravesically), cause HSRs of significant degree in approximately 10% of patients. All four types of HSRs are represented in the reactions produced by antitumor drugs, although Type I is the most common. Some of the Type I reactions are IgE-mediated, and others are probably mediated by nonspecific release of vasoactive substances from targets such as mast cells. It is possible to continue therapy with some drugs, despite a prior HSR, if the prophylactic measures outlined in Table 2 are taken. An example of this is provided by taxol in which the lengthening of the infusion time and the administration of preventive medication allowed some patients to continue taxol therapy. The mechanisms of the HSRs have been carefully assessed in only a minority of patients who sustained such toxicity. Such evaluation would increase our understanding of this form of drug toxicity and perhaps lead to means of effectively reducing the risk and severity.     

Increased mechanical fragility and intravascular lysis of erythrocytes in cats fed a propylene glycol-containing diet

The mechanism responsible for the decreased red blood cell (RBC) lifespan associated with feeding propylene glycol (PG)-containing diets was investigated to understand better how Heinz body-contained RBC are destroyed. Three cats were fed a diet containing 12% PG for 14 days and three other cats served as control. The experimental group developed reticulocytosis and increased Heinz body numbers. Red blood cell membrane immunoglobulih G (IgG) concentration and phagocytosis of RBC by peritoneal macrophages were lower in the PG group compared to the control group suggesting that neither IgG nor non-IgG-mediated phagocytosis was responsible for the RBC destruction. Osmotic fragility, rate of RBC proteolysis and mild mechanical fragility test results were not statistically different from controls. However, when RBC from cats fed PG were exposed to severe mechanical stress, their fragility were increased 2.2–2.8 times. Additionally, haptoglobin concentrations were decreased in the PG group. These data suggest that intravascular lysis may be involved in the pathogenesis of PG-induced RBC destruction.     

Axial myopia in eyes with optic nerve hypoplasia

Given that abnormal visual experience during post natal development interferes with emmetropization, we proposed that eyes with hypoplastic optic nerves were predisposed to the development of refractive errors. Six of 14 patients with unilateral optic nerve hypoplasia and 5 of 22 patients with bilateral involvement had at least 4 D of myopia. Nine of the 11 patients with asymmetric bilateral involvement had relative myopia in the eye with the more abnormal optic nerve; none of the patients with symmetric bilateral involvement had a significant interocular refractive difference. Analysis of axial length measurements obtained in 10 of the 11 patients with high myopia showed a significant increase in total axial length. The presumed normal eye of patients with unilateral involvement was significantly smaller than the mean value for age-adjusted normals. We suspect that visual input to the central nervous system is one of the feedback signals involved in the regulation of ocular growth.Presented in part at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Sarasota, Florida, May 4, 1990Correspondence to: A.H. Weiss     

Prognostic significance of granular cell content in renal cell carcinoma.

The relation between survival and tumor cell type in renal cell carcinomas was reviewed in 79 cases. The mean follow-up period was 10 years. Tumors were classified into 5 groups according to the percentage of granular cells: group 1, 0-5%; group 2, 6-20%; group 3, 21-40%; group 4, 41-80%, and group 5, over 80%. Half of the patients (50.6%) revealed less than 5% of granular cells, and almost two thirds of the patients (64.64%) had less than 20% of granular cells. Our results showed a lack of correlation between the percentage of granular cell in the tumor and long-term survival (chi 2 p > 0.9 after 10 years). When the data were analyzed in groups of patients with the same clinical stage or nuclear grading, no significant correlation between the percentage of granular cells and long-term survival was found. However, the short-term survival, up to 3 years after diagnosis, was significantly higher for patients with tumors containing less than 20% of granular cells (64.6% in comparison to 46.4% survival for patients with over 20% granular cells; chi 2 p = 0.1). In addition, our data showed a significant correlation between the survival of patients and nuclear grading (chi 2 p < 0.003) as well as the surgical staging of the tumor (chi 2 p < 0.001).     

An algorithm separating saccadic from nonsaccadic eye movements automatically by use of the acceleration signal.

An algorithm is described to discriminate automatically between saccades and slow eye movements. Sampled data of the eye position have been used to calculate the momentary acceleration of the eye. The higher acceleration values of the saccadic eye movements as opposed to the slow compensatory or pursuit eye movements served to differentiate between the two. The method is demonstrated by search-coil data in squirrel monkeys.     

Liquid-crystalline polyethers and copolyethers of 4-hydroxy-acetophenone azine with a homologous series of flexible methylene spacers

The synthesis of high-molecular-weight polyethers and copolyethers based on 4-hydroxyacetophenone azine and α,ω-dibromoalkanes was carried out in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone via Williamson etherification using the caesium salt of the diol. Polyethers were composed of a homologous series of flexible methylene spacers with m = 5?12, while the copolyethers contained a 1:1 mole ratio of two different spacers with m = 5/7, 6/8, 7/9, 8/10, 9/11 and 10/12. Polymers with relatively short spacers (m = 5?8 methylene groups) exhibit enantiotropic mesomorphism, whereas those having m = 8?11 are tentatively identified to be monotropic. The polyether with m = 12 is crystalline. Copolyethers are enantiotropic and their mesophase ranges are considerably wider than those of the homopolyethers. The mesophases were identified to be nematic by polarised light microscopy. The transition temperatures of both the homopolymers and copolymers show classical even-odd variations as a function of the spacer length.     

Ghrelin and bone: is there an association in older adults?: the Rancho Bernardo study.

Laboratory studies suggest that ghrelin is involved in bone metabolism, but studies of ghrelin and bone in humans are limited. We studied sex-specific associations of ghrelin with BMD, NTX, and bone loss. Ghrelin was not associated with BMD or bone loss in either sex. There was a significant inverse association with NTX in men but not in women. INTRODUCTION: Ghrelin is a gastric hormone recently shown to be associated with bone metabolism in animal and in vitro studies. Studies in humans are limited. We investigated the association of ghrelin with BMD, the bone resorption marker N-telopeptide (NTX), and bone loss in older men and women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants were 977 community-dwelling men and non-estrogen-using postmenopausal women, 50-91 years of age. Plasma ghrelin was measured by radioimmunoassay from blood obtained between 1984 and 1987. Between 1988 and 1991, BMD was measured at the midshaft radius by single photon absorptiometry and at the femoral neck, total hip, and lumbar spine by DXA. Axial BMD measurements were repeated an average of 4 years later in 544 participants. Bone turnover was assessed by NTX in urine obtained at the same time as the initial BMD. Multiple regression analyses were used to test sex-specific associations of ghrelin with BMD, NTX, and bone loss in both sexes. RESULTS: No significant ghrelin-BMD or ghrelin-bone loss associations were observed in either sex, after adjusting for age and body mass index (BMI). Ghrelin was inversely associated with NTX in men and positively associated with NTX in women, independent of age. After adjusting for both age and BMI, this association reached statistical significance in men and was weakened in women. CONCLUSIONS: Ghrelin may be associated with bone turnover, but there is no evidence for an association with BMD or short-term change in BMD in older adults.     

Method of analysis of local neuronal circuits in the vertebrate central nervous system.

Although a considerable amount of knowledge has been accumulated about the activity of individual nerve cells in the brain, little is known about their mutual interactions at the local level. The method presented in this paper allows the reconstruction of functional relations within a group of neurons as recorded by a single microelectrode. Data are sampled at 10 or 13 kHz. Prominent spikes produced by one or more single cells are selected and sorted by K-means cluster analysis. The activities of single cells are then related to the background firing of neurons in their vicinity. Auto-correlograms of the leading cells, auto-correlograms of the background cells (mass correlograms) and cross-correlograms between these two levels of firing are computed and evaluated. The statistical probability of mutual interactions is determined, and the statistically significant, most common interspike intervals are stored and attributed to real pairs of spikes in the original record. Selected pairs of spikes, characterized by statistically significant intervals between them, are then assembled into a working model of the system. This method has revealed substantial differences between the information processing in the visual cortex, the inferior colliculus, the rostral ventromedial medulla and the ventrobasal complex of the thalamus. Even short 1-s records of the multiple neuronal activity may provide meaningful and statistically significant results.